


On the road to Phandalin

by flashwitch



Category: balance arc - Fandom, the adventure zone
Genre: Amnesia, F/M, Found Family, M/M, Memory Loss, The Lover - Freeform, The Twins - Freeform, but also after balance as a whole, set in here there be gerblins, so spoilers sweetie, spoilers for balance arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 04:56:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13046940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashwitch/pseuds/flashwitch
Summary: A funny thing happened on the road to Phandalin...Barry is not good at flirting. Luckily, Taako is.





	On the road to Phandalin

**Author's Note:**

> Having Twin and Barry feels, so have a fic. Something short and silly, and a bit of angst.

 

**Taako**

Taako had noticed Barry looking at him. He’d seen the way his eyes lingered. And it had been a while, ok, and Barold was kind of cute in a nerdy sort of way and Taako’s attitude to sex had always kind of been, sure, why not? So, when it becomes clear that Barry isn’t going to do anything, he makes a move.

And Barry is… he’s soft and he’s kind and he’s surprisingly funny. His hands are calloused and stronger than they look. They have fun. A lot of fun actually.

And it’s weird, because sex is sex and it’s always fun and he always has a good time, but he doesn’t laugh with his one night stands. He doesn’t connect with them. He doesn’t think about them when they’re not around. He’s dated, and yeah that stuff comes with dating, but he hasn’t had anything like that in a while. Taako isn’t looking for a relationship. He does not want to think about this boy with his soft hands and the weird connection between them.

They fucked. Once. Well over the course of one night, more like three times is we’re counting orgasms, or would it be six? Do orgasms count individually or mutually?

It doesn’t matter anyway. It was a one night stand. He’s putting it behind him. He’s not thinking about it.

And they split up anyway. Barold goes off with Gundren Rockseeker, leaving them with the map.

And it’s fine. It’s all fine. It was nice, they had fun, but you know, your boys not one for settling down, not right now anyway. He keeps moving. He’s a rolling stone. Yeah.

 

 

Barry dies. Phandalin is destroyed.

And that hurts. It hurts in a way that it hasn’t hurt in a while. Not since Glamoursprings.

It shouldn’t hurt. They’d known each other for a few days, that’s all. Yeah, they’d fucked, but that shouldn’t do this.

He makes a joke out of it. He carries on. It’s what he does

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Barry.**

 

So. The elf is hot. Really hot. And that’s fine. He’s used to looking at things he can’t have. He’s not good at talking to people. He’s not good at flirting. He knows he’s not much to look at, he knows he’s awkward and he doesn’t always say the right thing.

It’s fine. He gets to look. That’s enough.

And he does look. A lot. He can’t help it. There’s something about Taako, something he can’t place. A connection.

But then Taako flirts back. And normally, Barry would assume that he was misreading things or whatever, but Taako? He’s a lot of things, but subtle is not one of them.

So, cautiously, he makes an offer. And it’s accepted. More than accepted.

And Barry, he’s not used to having one night stands. He normally goes in for relationships, for feelings. But there’s something about Taako He can’t quite put his finger on it.

But he thinks, Ok then. This could be good.

And it is. Good. Taako’s hands are long and slim and his fingers are flexible and colder than you’d think. He’s beautiful. He’s kinder than Barry expected. Pretty people can be cruel, but not Taako. Sometimes his jokes have an edge to them, but he’s careful. He’s so careful. And he’s just as invested in Barry’s pleasure as he is in his own.

They have a night. Just one night. It is not enough. It is everything.

But he gets it. He knows how one night stands work. He knows that he’s not supposed to want more (he wants more). So he leaves. He goes with Gundren. He’d had fun with Taako. But he knows that’s all it was supposed to be. Fun.

He has a hard time letting go sometimes. Distance… distance will be good. He’ll get his head on straight, pun absolutely intended, and he’ll deal with it. The next time he sees Taako it will be fine. They will be just friends. And it will be enough.

 

And then he dies. And Phandalin is destroyed.

And he’s hovering there in litch form, thinking how much Lup would hate that her relic was being used like this, and there’s this thought that sneaks in at the back of his head.

“You slept with Taako.” And he just freezes. He remembers their one night stand in intimate detail.

And it’s weird. He slept with his girlfriend’s nearly identical twin. No fucking wonder he felt familiar  He loves Taako. Of course he does. He loves Magnus, he loves Merle, he loves Davenport (he isn’t sure about Lucretia). But he _loves_ Lup.

He isn’t sure how to feel about this. Partly because he thinks Lup would be torn between finding it hilarious and being completely fine with it. Like, he knows she’d think Taako needs more love this go round. From what Barry had seen, the elf spent way too much time alone. It was wrong.

And you know, it had been fun. They had both needed it, he thought. But, you know, still weird.

He goes back to his cave. He’d left some blood in the tank before he set off, but it would be a while before the body was ready. He grabs his coin:

“Hey, so there’s a lot you need to know. Your name is Barry J Bluejeans. Your favourite thing in the world is swimming in cold water on a hot day. You’re scared of the dark. You get ill when you drink milk or anything with milk in it. Your mother, Marleana, had soft gray hair and was the most wonderful woman in the world. Your father, Gregor, died when you were too young to know him. You remember them, but you’ve forgotten so much. You feel a dull weight in your chest, don’t you? It’s the weight of a love that you have forgotten. A love that defined and redeemed you. I know because I’m you.  I remember who that weight belongs to and I can help you remember too. But first, there’s one thing that you need to remember. An important thing. Whatever you do, do not fuck Taako. You’ll want to. He’s hot and he feels familiar, for good reason. But you cannot fuck him, Barry. You CAN NOT fuck Taako.”

 

He thinks that’s enough, at least for now. He’ll add more to it later, when he knows what his next body will need to do, but he’s got other things on his list for right now. Litch type things. He’s recorded the important things anyway.

 

 

  

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

**Lup,**

_Some time later:_

 

“YOU SLEPT WITH BAROLD?!?”

“YOU SLEPT WITH _MY BROTHER?!?”_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I may revisit and expand this at some point.


End file.
